UCLA cuts commuter traffic

WESTWOOD - Vehicle traffic on UCLA's campus has dropped to the lowest level since counts were started in 1990, as employees and students turn to carpools, buses, bikes and their own feet to avoid endemic Westside gridlock, officials said.

Only 25 percent of UCLA's 41,000 students drive to the campus alone, with the rest either living on campus or taking alternate means. And only 52.9 percent of the school's 26,000 employees drive themselves to Westwood daily, compared to a baseline figure of 72 percent of the commuters in Los Angeles County.

The figures were disclosed in an annual UCLA State of the Commute released last week by the school.

The school generates 102,000 daily vehicle trips, but many of those are van pools or buses. The school subsidizes van pool expenses, and offers a 50 percent subsidy for bus passes.

But that figure is 3 percent lower than last year, and 20 percent lower than the peak traffic figure, set in 2003.

UCLA sits among some of the worst congestion in L.A. County, as traffic routinely backs up on streets crossing the San Diego (405) Freeway next to the campus. A $1.2 billion widening project is underway on the 405.